Taliban Suicide Bomber Attacks Military Convoy Near U.S. Base in Kabul

By Staff | November 13, 2009 | 5:29 AM EST

Kabul (AP) - The Taliban claimed responsibility for a suicide bombing Friday that wounded at least six people near Camp Phoenix, a logistics support base for U.S. forces on the outskirts of Kabul.

NATO said the suicide bombing occurred at 8 a.m. (0330 GMT) on the Jalalabad road, and reports indicated Afghan civilians, NATO service members and civilian contractors had been wounded. No NATO members were killed.

Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid sent The Associated Press a message saying the attack was carried out by a Taliban suicide car bomber targeting an international military convoy.

Abdul Ghafar Sayed Zada, chief of criminal investigation for Kabul police, said three civilians and three foreigners were wounded.

At the scene Nabi, a taxi driver, said he was driving down the road when he heard a "big bang."

"Everything went dark," said Nabi, who like many Afghans uses one name. "I just managed to take myself out of the area. I don't know what happened then, but the attack was on the foreigners."

Lt. Col. Todd Vician, a spokesman for NATO, said the bombing was "another attack by insurgents that injured the people of Afghanistan and our personnel who are partnering with the Afghan security forces to bring better development, governance and security to Afghanistan."

"This attack will not deter us from continuing our important mission," he said.

Separately, a land mine exploded near a police station in Logar province, south of Kabul, killing a member of the Afghan National Police and wounding an Afghan National Army officer Friday, provincial police chief Mustafa Mosseini said.

Reports indicate that Afghan civilians, NATO service members and civilian contractors had been wounded. No NATO members were killed.